New colleague from hell? How to avoid a hiring disaster

The people you work with make a huge difference to life at the office. If you get on with your team, the work seems easier and every day is that bit brighter. We’ve all been there when a new team member doesn’t quite fit or isn’t really right for the job. 

 

Having the wrong person in a role can often happen when companies can’t find the candidate they need fast enough, and are forced to compromise. Unfortunately, the side effects aren’t limited to a little office tension. Getting the right person in the right role at the right time can make the difference between a company surviving and a company thriving. 

 

With the rise of social media, recruitment has become much more data-driven, with new insights into where the best talent is. We recently conducted some research to better understand how data savvy UK recruiters are when filling roles. 

 

Shockingly, one in three senior HR professionals said they aren’t taking full advantage of data insights into available skills in the market during the recruitment process. This is despite 28 per cent thinking productivity is hit by the resulting extra time it takes to bring on board new team members, and one in five (21 per cent) saying that a slow recruitment process also hits staff morale. 

To make sure your company doesn’t suffer this fate of poor morale and lower productivity, and to avoid unnecessary office tension, take note of our golden rules so that you don’t make a bad hire.

 

Mobilise your biggest ambassadors. Often the best advocates for a business are its existing employees. They have an authentic picture of what it’s like to work at their company, what it stands for, and its culture. Encouraging your employees to share their experience via social media – with the right guidance – can quickly build your brand as an employer among their networks. This will help widen the pool of talent you have available by attracting people to your organisation.

 

Hire smart. The way in which the best companies find talent has changed. With social media, it’s now possible for your recruitment team to get insights into the availability of particular skills in your industry, country, or region. Knowing where these skills exist – and how in-demand they are – can then inform strategic business decisions, as well as manage expectations and help identify potential pinch-points, where the right skills might not be available when needed. 

 

Put talent at the top of the agenda. The days of the recruitment team being an afterthought once the decision to hire has been made are gone. When armed with the right data, recruiters can find themselves advising the business on real strategic priorities. Recruitment isn’t just about filling roles when they come up, but giving the business guidance on strategic decisions based on the likelihood that the right skills and experience will be accessible to make it a success. This could be choosing whether to locate your new data centre in Leeds or Cheshire, or whether it makes more sense to outsource your engineering support overseas. 

 

We all want to avoid that awkward moment of meeting a new colleague who you just know won’t work out. Businesses have access to a huge array of data to make hiring quicker and easier. Put it to work.